Many companies, ranging from carriers like AT&T to advertising companies like Google, are hoping that Americans become as dependent on using the Internet on their phones as they are on their computers. So far, that’s still a work in progress.
The number of American mobile subscribers using the Internet to access “news and information” on their phones has doubled in the last year, comScore notes today (3/16/2009). In January, 63 million used the mobile Internet once in the month, up 71% from 37 million a year ago. And 22.3 million used the mobile Internet daily, up 107% from 10.8 million a year ago.
But that’s still a small percentage of mobile subscribers: With about 250 million subs in the U.S., that means only about 25% of subscribers use the Internet to access information and news on their phones at all, and only about 10% use it daily. There’s still a lot of work left if companies like Google ever expect to make the same amount of money off the mobile Web as the normal Web.
